An Apple A Day Helps Keep The PCOS Away!

The cooler temperatures and the bright foliage are signals that Fall has arrived! This time of year is also about apples, making October National Apple Month. Did you know that there are 2,500 varieties of apples grown in the United States? Apples are a delicious and healthy fruit for women with PCOS. Here are some health benefits and fun facts about this crisp fruit.

Health Benefits of Apples
Apples are one of the most popular fruits around and with good reason: Apples are tasty, filling, portable, inexpensive and have a long shelf-life. One medium apple has only 80 calories and 5 grams of fiber. They are also a fat, sodium and cholesterol free food. Another benefit: Apples are a low glycemic index (GI) food -if you eat it with the skin on.


Apples are a source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber such as pectin actually helps to prevent cholesterol buildup in the lining of blood vessel walls, thus reducing the risk for heart disease. The insoluble fiber in apples provides bulk in the intestinal tract, holding water to cleanse and move food quickly through the digestive system.

Apples are rich in vitamin C with the majority of it just underneath the skin (where most of the fiber is too) and are rich in many other essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants which prevent illness and disease.

The health benefits of apples are numerous and range from aiding in weight loss to cancer and heart disease prevention, improving metabolic syndrome and gut health.

What equals one serving of apples?

1 small apple
half of a large apple
1 cup sliced, raw or cooked apples
a quarter cup of dried apples
half cup of applesauce

Great Ways to Enjoy Apples:

Add peanut butter for a yummy snack
Cook chopped apples with oatmeal
Slice and add to a salad
Use in a main dish like in this Apple Chicken Stir-Fry
Mix into tuna salad
Great in sandwiches
Eat it alone as a snack
Think beyond apple pie and add apples into desserts or simply core and bake with cinnamon and butter

Fun Apple Facts

Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated.
Two pounds of apples make one 9-inch pie.
Apples are grown in all 50 states.
It takes the energy from 50 leaves to produce one apple.
It takes about 36 apples to create one gallon of apple cider.

Don't peel your apple. Two-thirds of the fiber and lots of antioxidants are found in the peel. Antioxidants help to reduce damage to cells, which can trigger some diseases.
In 2005, United States consumers ate an average of 46.1 pounds of fresh apples and processed apple products. That's a lot of applesauce!
The top apple producing states are Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California and Virginia.
The apple variety 'Red Delicious' is the most widely grown in the United States.

Sources
United States Apple Association
USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory - Apple
University of Illinois Extension Apple Fact